Greenwood Leflore Hospital administrators informed department heads on Monday that the hospital will close permanently on June 15 if its efforts to stay open fail, affecting hundreds of employees and thousands of residents who rely on it.
The embattled hospital in Greenwood, Mississippi, is in the midst of negotiations with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, so closure is not guaranteed but is a distinct possibility. Last week, the hospital announced the closure of four services and laid off 86 employees—around a fifth of its workforce.
A notice the hospital was set to issue to employees, in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, says the closure “will affect substantially all employees and is expected to be permanent.” GLH notes in an accompanying notice that it reserves the right to amend the WARN Act notice and revise its effective date.
The Mississippi Free Press received an unaddressed copy of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter, which federal law requires employers of a certain size to issue to employees ahead of a potential closure. Along with the letter is an employee update providing information on the hospital’s efforts to stabilize both its short and long-term operations.
Department heads were told of ongoing plans around 10 a.m. Monday, a source with knowledge of the meeting told the Mississippi Free Press. Department heads were told that closure is not guaranteed but is “a strong possibility.” The Mississippi Division of Medicaid has recouped $2.5 million in Medicaid overpayments to Greenwood Leflore Hospital, with another $5 million at risk. Hinds County Chancery Judge J. Dewayne Thomas has paused payments while GLH searches for alternatives to preserve its operations.
The employee update confirms that GLH is in negotiations with “a large healthcare system” to transfer all of its services to that organization, but notes that the Medicaid payments are significantly affecting the hospital’s ability to stay open and that there is no guarantee negotiations with the larger system will be successful. In the meantime, the hospital is exploring Chapter 9 bankruptcy to extend its timeline.
Administrators are “hopeful” about the UMMC collaboration and told department heads that negotiations are further along than they have ever been, the source told the Mississippi Free Press. The Jackson-based medical center has on two previous occasions engaged GLH with a potential takeover, but negotiations fell through both times.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital is more than a century old and is one of Leflore County’s largest employers, but it has struggled financially for years and never fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, which drained its cash reserves. Last week, the hospital began laying off 86 employees while closing its after-hours clinic, wellness center, outpatient rehab and cardiac rehab clinics.
In 2023, then-Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams, a political independent, told the Mississippi Free Press that Medicaid expansion could have helped the ailing hospital system, but despite an attempt in 2024, the Mississippi Legislature has long failed to expand Medicaid; lawmakers shut the door on the possibility this year, citing cuts in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
If Greenwood Leflore closes, the closest hospital for Greenwood’s more than 13,000 mostly Black residents is the UMMC Grenada campus, about 33 miles away.
